Province of Ontario Makes Water Infrastructure Investments in Stormont, Dundas, and South Glengarry – May 27, 2011

Long Sault ON – Stormont – Dundas – South Glengarry will get additional help in order for families to continue to have access to clean, safe, reliable water and affordable wastewater services. To modernize and improve Stormont – Dundas – South Glengarry’s aging infrastructure, the province is supporting the community.  With support from the province, North Dundas will improve storm sewers to provide an outlet to the effluent from roof drains, foundation drains and sump pumps.

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North Stormont will prevent distribution system leaks through cathodic protection of valves and hydrants and repair leaks.  South Glengarry will reline collection mains to repair leaks and infiltration; meanwhile, South Stormont will improve leakage repairs.

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In 2000, Ontario experienced a tragedy because of contaminated water in Walkerton.  More than 120 recommendations were made and the government implemented every single one of them.  Ontario has the highest standards for drinking water in North America and has gone on to develop water technologies that not only provide safe, reliable, clean drinking water to Ontarians but to the rest of the world.

This has also benefited Ontarians by creating clean jobs and protecting one of our most valuable resources for our children and our grandchildren.

“Upgrades to our water services are not only essential to improving the quality of life for residents of Stormont – Dundas – South Glengarry, but it will also create jobs and economic development to our local economy.”  – Jim Brownell, MPP for Stormont – Dundas – South Glengarry

and from Bob Chiarelli, Minister of Infrastructure:

“Protecting our most precious resource remains a top priority.  Ontario is committed to protecting our water through modern infrastructure so that our children, our grandchildren and great grandchildren continue to have access.”

North Dundas is receiving $223,153 in funding from the Ontario Small Waterworks Assistance Program. 

North Stormont is receiving $155,697 in funding from the Ontario Small Waterworks Assistance Program. 

South Glengarry is receiving $152,648 in funding from the Ontario Small Waterworks Assistance Program. 

South Stormont is receiving $1,599,197 in funding from the Ontario Small Waterworks Assistance Program. 

In total, Ontario will provide $50 million, over four years, to support water and wastewater improvements in small communities.  Municipalities, conservation authorities and Aboriginal organizations can now apply for Showcasing Water Innovation funding to support community projects that effectively manage drinking water, wastewater and storm water systems. 

The Ontario Water Global Leadership Summit is being held in Toronto on May 17-18.  Across the province, the clean water industry employs 22,000 and generates $1.8 billion in sales.

Best Western Cornwall

4 Comments

  1. You should take a look at the post on this topic on the SF page Admin.

    Some pretty interesting points regarding costs entaled by the citizens for water usage knowing the distribution system was faulty yet still billing wiht Smart Meters…scary

  2. There needs to be more focus on rural water supply as well. I lived on 150 acre farm with an out-dated septic system and a struggling well. It costs tens of thousands of dollars for rural families to upgrade either of these systems, and as we all know, it is a necessity, not a luxury.

    On one occasion, a student worker came unannounced and was walking around on the septic bed on our property. It had rained, and he noted the soggy nature of the ground and tried to condemn the system on the spot. His title was ‘health officer’, yet he was only a summer student, and able to make such a serious decision based only upon his misunderstanding of the lawn, as the septic bed was not leaking. We managed to keep the system after some words with the health board, but the solution they wanted was for us to spend $50,000 on a new septic system immediately!

    I think something better ought to be set up for rural landowners, for starters, sending an engineer to make conclusions about the state of someone’s system, and to offer ways to improve problems rather than tell people to tear everything out and start from scratch at a very high price.

    As for our dug well, it had a rickety old wooden cover when we bought the place, and the water quality was poor every spring season. By spending a hundred or so on a concrete cover, the water quality improved substantially. Again, it was recommended that we have a new well dug at a price of tens of thousands. There are aging farm families out there who are struggling to put food on the table. How on earth are they supposed to put in new systems? The government really ought to be looking at ways of assisting these people who also have the need for clean and safe water.

    Remedial action does not always have to mean total replacement of what’s there. There may be affordable solutions that people could implement, but there seems to be little or no help available for rural landowners.

  3. Rural landowners need more help??? No more then the rest of the people.

    Did you choose to live there or were you forced to? Everything costs money and others paying for your options is not a good alternative.
    Less engineers with pencils and more with shovels is the right asnwer or give Jamie a shovel and let him actually commit to fixing problems rahter then talking about how they should be better..

    Remember John, you can always tell an engineer, you just can’t tell them much.

  4. I understand the Liberal party is working untill October, however, there seems to be a lot of announcements as of late that smell like politics to me. And how do I make this conclusion?

    These announcements in May 2011 were Part 2 of the Walkerton Inquiry (chapter 14 I believe), but the previous government received this report in May of 2002. To wait 9 years to act, which just happens to be an election time frame seems funny to me.

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